A Couple Of Days Ago,

Jill asked what are whelks and how do you cook them?

well this is how I eat them, boiled in salt water then sprinkled with vinegar, so what are they? the easiest thing is to quote Wikipedia, a whelk is a common name that is applied to various kinds of sea snail, although a number of whelks are relatively large and are in the family Buccinidae (the true whelks), the word whelk is also applied to some other marine gastropod species within several families of sea snails that are not very closely related, many have historically been used, or are still used, by humans and other animals for food. (In an average whelk (100g), there are 137 calories, 24g of protein, 0.34g of fat, and 8g of carbohydrates,

hauling whelks in Weymouth Harbour, photograph by Lara Jane Thrope, I had thought that whelks or their local equivalent would be well known, but it appears that it is a British thing as they are only found around Great Britain and the Atlantic, and whelks for some are big business, the UK lands over 10,000 tonnes of whelks per annum and in Weymouth Harbour last year alone, 722 tonnes were pulled from the sea, but here is the thing, nearly 95 per cent of whelks landed are shipped abroad to the Far East, in particular South Korea, where they're sold in tins swamped in soy sauce, so other than boiling them how else can you cook whelks? well here are a couple of ideas,

Whelks en salsa by Taher Jibet

To serve 4 as a starter

500g picked whelks

Half a bunch of coriander

3 large tomatoes

1 yellow pepper

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 lemons

Half a cucumber

1 onion

30ml white wine vinegar

90ml olive oil

1 teaspoon Maldon salt flakes

Boil the whelks in plenty of salted water for 30 minutes mand let them cool in the liquid. Strain and put aside. Chop the tomatoes, onions, cucumber and peppers into small squares and mix with a spoon in a bowl. Chop or slice the whelks and add to the salsa.

Season with Maldon salt and cracked black pepper. Squeeze the lemon juice into the mix and add the chopped coriander, vinegar and oil.

or how about this? Buffalo Whelks by Taher Jibet

To serve 4 as a starter

500g picked whelks

Half a bunch coriander

2 cloves of garlic

150ml Tabasco sauce

390ml water

350g panko breadcrumbs

4 eggs

200g plain flour

20g Maldon salt flakes

Bring the water, Tabasco, garlic and coriander to the boil. Put the whelks into the boiling liquid and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let everything cool down together.

Place in a plastic container and leave to marinade in the fridge for 3 days. Strain the whelks and remove the garlic and coriander.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and set aside.

Add the Maldon salt to the panko breadcrumbs and mix through. Set this aside, too. Roll the whelks in the flour first, then dip them in the egg mix and finally roll them through the breadcrumbs. Repeat this process twice.

Turn your deep fat fryer to 180C and deep fry the whelks till golden and crispy. Serve with a tartare sauce or lemon mayonnaise.

both sound delicious, but for myself boiled with vinegar to taste does me grand.